So here’s a toy gun that was donated to be put on the site. It’s not a gun and it doesn’t use the usual style ammo for most toy guns, like the plastic BB bullets. Instead, it’s a gun-like launcher that fires little plastic flies. I guess this is the 21st century version of having fun with bugs. The way kids used to have fun with bugs involved a magnifying glass and a bright sunny day. The Launcher and 8 Flies to Catapult You get the launcher gun and eight flies to launch at whatever you want. No targets come with it. I guess they’re assuming you’re going to fling them at girls or something. At this point I would like to point out I don’t recommend flinging them at people or animals, try an empty can or if you have them, the toy gun targets. The gun actually reminds me of brass knuckles with all those holes in them. A fly inside the compartment To load the gun catapult, start by pulling the trigger and holding, push the barrel side red fly holder compartment down and let go of the trigger to lock the compartment down. Put a fly into the compartment and push the compartment cover onto it. This keeps the fly inside if you want to move around with gun in hand. A loaded fly is ready to be launched If it matters, you’ll need to be careful when closing the cover since it could damage the flies. You might take a leg or wing off. Keep in mind you could always get another one for a dollar anyway, although I doubt there are packs of replacement flies like the packs of replacement plastic BB bullets I talked about with the toy space gun. Shotgun or Spread Fire: Results Unpredictable. Overall, it actually works. You can also put more than one fly in the compartment, but closing it might be a problem. It’s kind of like the secondary firing of guns from first person shooter games, uses more fire power but does something more than single fire. Four flies can fit standing on their side within the compartment, but you might have trouble closing the cover. Also, if flies are a little too “gross” for you, I did happen to see Ninja Launcher. It wasn’t at a dollar store so I didn’t pick it up, although I might check to see if it’s still there. Thinkgeek.com has Ninja vs Pirate Launchers available for about...

Here is another dart shooting rifle, this time it’s a cowboy rifle. Usually you see cowboys with handguns, pistols or six shooters, but some of them have rifles to. This one shoots the usual soft suction cupped darts like the dart sniper rifle and dart shotgun. Geez, I’m going to need to find some sort of dollar store gun rack for all of these. No targets like the other guns, try empty cans. The cowboy rifle only comes with a scope and three suction cupped darts like the dart sniper rifle, but it doesn’t have any targets like the dart shotgun. I don’t know why it says “COWBOY COW-BOY” on it. With the scope attached. The scope slides in at the top of the cowboy rifle. It took a little force to get it in properly and overall it isn’t really necessary. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice addition and it looks nice on top, but it’s only for looks. There’s no magnification and there’s only a tiny hole to look through compared to the dart sniper rifle, quite irritating trying to look through. This is also where the gun is loaded. The scope is attached to a section of the top that needs to be pulled back until it clicks, then you can fire. It’s good because it’s not some additional part like the SWAT Force dart gun with the orange pull back loader that looks dumb. On the other hand, it makes it look a little more realistic and you really don’t need people thinking it is from a distance, especially police officers. Slightly bigger than the others. Not really a factor. Well, it’s a decent sized toy gun, considering it was only one dollar. It’s about the same size as the sniper rifle and shotgun and it works all right compared to the other dart guns. It’s probably the worst out of all the ones I have tried. It kind of works like the crossbow after the string got stretched. The problem is the barrel of the rifle is too long, or the darts are too short. When the dart is all the way in, it never touches the back really so it never gets the full force when fired. It doesn’t shoot as far and the darts didn’t stick to the normal things well, but if you like watching the darts bouncing off things then this is the best gun for that. All in all it’s not bad. I found this at Dollarama so...

It seems that anytime you want food to taste better you either add bacon or wrap it in bacon. Who can resist its salty goodness when you can add it to food like hamburgers and salads? So, what does adding bacon to food to make it more desirable have to do with a dollar store toy? Well, the “add something to make it better” seems to apply to weapons as well, add a gun to a weapon to make it better. The bow and arrow worked just fine until someone came along and thought the bow and arrow was just not cool enough on its own, so they added a gun…..and made it fire bolts instead of arrows. The crossbow was born. Want to make a weapon better? Just make it a gun and weapon hybrid. At least it made sense with a bow and arrow since bow and arrows fire projectiles normally. It’s not like that gunblade revolver that Squall used in Final Fantasy VIII, now that was just odd. So here we have another artillery toy that isn’t a gun, well not a pure gun anyway, it’s a crossbow. Actually, now that I look at it, maybe it’s just a bow and arrow set with a bonus gun included. There’s some assembly required, you put the bow on the gun, and you get four suction cupped arrows in a clip on quiver. To the right is the bow part with an arrow loaded so you can use it either way you want, but honestly, why would you waste a perfectly good gun version crossbow of a weapon for it’s lesser counterpart the bow and arrow? Yeah, you’re going to use the crossbow, you only need one hand once it’s loaded and you look cooler holding it, because you know, it’s like a gun. The bow fits into a little slot and you need to match the hole in the center of the bow with the gun hole so the arrow can slide in. The string must be pulled back to a little indent that the trigger pushes up to fire the dart. You need to pull back hard to get the string around the indent, but it gives it a good amount of force when fired. It shoots as far as the average toy dart gun and it sticks to flat surfaces. A word of warning, no not a lead paint warning, don’t leave the crossbow loaded for an extended period of time(like taking the pictures of...

Here is a dart firing weapon that isn’t a gun! It’s a bow and arrow set with suction cupped arrows, so if archery is your bag and you’re too young, or lack the maturity required, to handle a real bow and arrow, this could be right up your alley. I found this at Dollarama and it was only a dollar, which is always a bonus considering the size of the bow and arrows. The bow with dart arrows includes the bow and three suction cup tipped arrows. The package itself has two cut-out targets you can use for target practice. The Bow The bow is pretty sturdy for a dollar store toy and the string is not elastic, but does stretch for the force necessary to propel the arrow. It’s also over a foot tall, not one of those mini ones. There’s also a hole right in the middle of the bow for the arrow to slide through(see below) so you can fire toward the center. I have seen other bow and arrows that rest to one side of the bow, requiring some practice with angle shots. The Arrows The body of the arrows are made with hollow plastic with a usual suction cup on one side and the the back is c-shaped allowing it to help stabilize the arrow without having to pinch both the arrow and string for stability(see below). Each arrow is over a foot long and almost as long as the bow itself. The hole allows for a centered shot and the c-shaped back of the arrow adds stability for an easier grip. Nice additions. You also get a couple of targets to cut or punch out of the cardboard backing. They are perforated, but if you aren’t careful you can rip them so it’s better to cut them out. You get the usual archery colored ring target and you also get a dart board numbered target. I suppose you can play archery darts. Like the other dart firing weapons, this one actually will stick to things. The targets should be properly fixed to something in order for them to stick. I’m talking glued to something hard, not just hanging from a string. Imagination Time You get yourself a nice dollar store bow and arrow set, who will you pretend to be? Here are some ideas in case television has ruined your imagination like the experts say, or maybe television gave you ideas. Green Arrow from DC comics Hawkeye from Marvel comics Robin Hood from...

The mini disc blaster gun toy comes with a futuristic, or alien, looking hand gun and twelve discs. I am actually pretty ticked off. The one I have only has one stack of foam discs and I got it from a dollar section. The disc blasters they have had the dollar stores have three stacks of foam discs. Let that be a lesson to you – go to an actual dollar store. Who would have thought you could have gotten something better at a real dollar store? At least the other toy guns didn’t do that. They also made use of the back side of the package to tell you how to use the mini disc blaster in 3 easy steps: So, it’s really only 2 steps. Using the item should not really count as a step. Adding a using the item step to the list is a pathetic attempt to make something look more complicated than it really is. I don’t know which is worse, having a step that is just using the item or having almost no steps so that there is no point in having a steps list. It has the usual warnings, not for kids under 3 and is for kids 4 and up. They also recommend not aiming the mini disc blaster at people or animals, but that is what I got it for. First of all, aiming the blaster at the person does not do anything, firing the discs would be the problem. Secondly, they are supposed to be safe foam discs so why is there any issue shooting them at people? It is not like those plastic discs for toy guns back in the day that might actually hurt. It’s also for outdoor use only. Too bad, I am using it indoors. I am looking forward to testing the claims that they shoot right after another and will shoot up to 30 feet. This one comes with 12 mini foam discs to blast with. 6 of them are already loaded so I need to load the other six official mini discs into the loading chamber. All 12 official mini discs fit nicely in the chamber and I can close the lid, so they planned that just right. What they did not plan right was the actual usage. At first, every other shot worked and the ones in between just kind of fell out of the gun. It tends to jam up when trying to shoot fast or if the foam discs are...